Republicans Suspend Rules To Vote Without Democrats

Democratic members of the Senate Finance Committee refused to vote on Trump's picks for Treasury and Health secretaries.

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Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee approved President Donald Trump's nominees for Health and Treasury secretaries, despite not a single Democrat being present for the vote.

Democratic committee members boycotted the first vote scheduled for Tuesday. Under the committee rules, at least one Democratic member had to be present for a vote to take place.

But on Wednesday, Republican members suspended that rule, and they voted without the Democrats.

"We'll get together and make things work in the future, but there's no excuse for what they did yesterday, and there's no excuse for not coming today," Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch said.

Democrats said Tom Price and Steven Mnuchin lied during their confirmation hearings. Some Republicans accused the Democratic members of letting their views of the president get in the way of the vote.

"The basic proposition of breaking the rules so that you can, in effect, look the other way in the face of strong evidence of serious ethical problems for two nominees is exceptionally troubling," Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden said.